If you'd like to print these labels, there are PDF versions for the UK and the US; volunteer translators have also created them in nine additional languages — check them out here. (The original Illustrator file is available for additional translations.)

August 06, 2010

Hilarious. A few questions:° How do you get your paper tweet to your followers? Some tweeters have hundreds of thousands, even millions. Mailing them would certainly help the U.S. Postal Service cover its budget shortfalls, though regular paper-tweeting would bankrupt the average tweeter.° How would paper tweets go viral? Would followers then have to get out their tweet pads and then mail tweets to all of their followers to pass on the info in the first tweet? And so on...° How would tweeters — both private citizens and news outlets — share breaking news? Paper tweets would certainly slow down that process, moving it back to the age of paper newspaper domination, which was not so long ago. (This makes me view tweets as more akin to radio and TV announcements than paper papers.)° How do you retweet a paper tweet? I'm assuming a photocopier would be involved.

Thinking about the humor of this actually brings up many differences between print and digital communication methods and how moving from print to digital has affected society.

January 21, 2010

While I haven't blogged in awhile, I have been busy writing and reading (some online, most brick-and-mortar). One example: I'm closely following news about Twitter and mobile phones because I think they have incredibly potential for communication and creativity.

To keep track of this information for myself and to share with anyone else who is interested, I have started a Twitter articles page. It features links to noteworthy Twitter articles. From the page's intro:

Twitter, the free microblogging service started in 2006,
has been used to influence elections in the United States and Iran,
break news about natural disasters and political happenings, and gather
donations to assist Haitians after the devastating January 2010
earthquake.

While critics
deride Twitter, I continually find merit in it. It is powerful in a
ground-level way, giving private citizens, companies, organizations and
thought leaders (potentially influential) voice on any subject
(significant and trivial) they desire. I look forward to seeing how it
evolves.

So, will Twitter
disappear, as other social networks have? In my opinion, no. It
has substantial market share, and while anyone can create their own
140-character microblogging network, terms like "tweet", "tweeting",
"followers", "Twitterville", etc. will most likely be synonymous for describing microblogging — referencing the only substantial,
well-populated microblogging community existing today.

I
read anything I can find about Twitter. Below is my list of noteworthy
Twitter articles, including news on new developments, trends and uses
of Twitter. It has been sifted to remove much of the fluff: while it's
a noteworthy trend that many celebrities have found a comfortable,
digital way to constantly communicate with tweet-reading fans, I
won't report on it — they are easy enough to find on their own, and are
often only "ego-casting" or "life-casting" (brief missives on what they
ate for breakfast, what they're wearing, who they're hanging out with,
etc.).

I'll add to this as I find more articles. Questions and comments are always welcome.

Regarding life-casting, I found a gem: the Museum of Modern Celebrity Tweets, which shows celebrity life-casting in a humorous light. Above is an illustration of a recent tweet by musician Nick Jonas. Odessa Begay is its illustrator and, I suppose, head curator. Found via Holy Kaw! at Alltop

March 30, 2009

1. FlowingData is a well-designed and -organized online locale which helps readers

...explore how designers, statisticians, and computer scientists are
using data to understand ourselves better—mainly through data
visualization. Money spent, reps at the gym, time you waste, and
personal information you enter online are all forms of data. How can we
understand these data flows? Data visualization lets non-experts make
sense of it all.

2. The Addictionary is a social word site. Users make up words, create definitions for made-up words, vote on other users' humorous wordy concoctions, and connect to others who enjoy doing the same. From their "About Us" page:

The Addictionary is a site for word lovers and those who like to see
our beloved English language grow in serious or humorous ways. We built
the Addictionary to empower word-play and to help lovers of word-play
showcase and market their cleverness and creativity to the world...

If you add a word or definition to the site, drop a comment here. I'll post a link to it so other readers can check it out.

January 23, 2009

Today, I learned something surprising. Twitter, the purportedly new microblogging service, has been around for thousands of years. The digital archeologists behindHistorical Tweetsare slowly unearthing relevant 140-character messages from the past and revealing them via their blog for posterity. (See above tweet from Abraham Lincoln.)

So, this form of social media is actually a bit ancient. Since humans have been tweeting for generations, it makes sense that many 21st-century technologists have adopted the practice so readily.

I wonder what the first-ever tweet was. (If you have some inkling about the tweet which started it all, please leave a comment. I'll post the ideas and link to your blog if you do.)

I would love to see the other signs in this zoo. Does anyone know where this is from? This image has been posted and emailed and re-emailed so many times, its original sourcing (if it ever existed) cannot be found.

For those of you who enjoyed Cass's video also, I've got good news: he has created an online community. Its goal: to make creative people more effective and successful at their creative lives and careers. It is called, appropriately, "Dennis Cass Wants You To Be More Awesome."

DCWYTBMA is a site full of "advice, jokes and tough love for people who want to make a living making culture." Dennis regularly answers members' questions, providing sound advice on a variety of relevant topics. The community is active, full of creatives commenting with additional viewpoints and examples. Plus, he features an "Awesomizer" to help improve creative endeavors; it has made me look at some pop culture mainstays with a fresh perspective.

I strongly believe that participating in writing/creative groups (even online!) can help their participants grow in their work, get unstuck when creative blocks arise, and provide camaraderie and support when the creative road is nothing but potholes and speed traps. (If you have done anything creative ever in your life, then you know the ride can get bumpy...)

While reading Cass's articles and answers, I have laughed out loud many times. Knowledgeable creative-career guidance + original insights + active community + humor = WIN! And if you sign up, I'll see you there.

June 16, 2008

Hilarious, frightening and true. Writer and author Dennis Cass captures so much about book promotion in the Internet age in his video "Book Launch 2.0". He skewers both the trials many authors must go through in doing full PR for their own books, and the abundant-yet-confusing social media tools out there to help in the process (supposedly).

June 03, 2008

After watching a stand-up comedy DVD (one I'd never heard of or seen before, and that was brought over by family) this weekend, I realized this about comedy:

Great comedians have the amazing ability to tell the truth — the most awkward, painful, hilarious, honest truths — to laughs and nods (or to head-shaking in embarrassment because, after all, what they are saying is often true).

Some comedians tell truths in palatable ways. They confirm what we people know or suspect about political leaders, fashion trends, famous folks, and characteristics of general society. While they can offend, and they always offend someone eventually, comedians push ahead in their quest to share observations and anecdotes; these stories, often about their personal lives or right-on observations from daily life, are brutally honest yet told with a "wink-wink", so they are heard.

If you want to know the truth within current events, an awkward political scandal, a corporate mishandling, or celebrity snafu, look to the comedians. Some days I think that a comedy monologue should accompany the nightly TV news, so that subtle aspects behind what is really going on could be spoken (by the media) and acknowledged (by the media and the rest of us).

If a society has no comedians, I would bet that truth-telling in the media is near zero. Comedy, particularly satire, provides an outlet for healthy release of societal tensions around awkward issues. Comedy brings up what we cannot say ourselves, and lets us look at it straight on, couched as pure entertainment.

Hello and welcome!

My name is Kristin Gorski. I recently earned my doctorate (EdD) in instructional technology and media. My research focuses on technology and literacies, writing in digital spaces, and how media literacy may support academic literacy (among other incredibly interesting topics). On occasion, I’m also a freelance writer and editor. “Write now is good.” is my personal blog about writing, creativity and inspiration (with healthy doses of technology in relevant places). I started it in blogging's heyday (2006) and still post to it, time permitting. If you'd like to collaborate on a project, have writing/technology/creativity info to share, or want to say, "Hi," contact me at kgwritenow (at) yahoo dot com.
To read more about me, click on the "ABOUT" link below.